Lookers find balance between simple, complex

Posted 5/21/25

Redundancy is an eternal enemy of creativity. No artist or entity wants to make a rehashing of something else. there’s always a desire to make something fresh and new.

Enter the Providence …

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Lookers find balance between simple, complex

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Redundancy is an eternal enemy of creativity. No artist or entity wants to make a rehashing of something else. there’s always a desire to make something fresh and new.

Enter the Providence indie rock act Lookers. The quintet of lead vocalist Muggs Fogarty, guitarist and synth player Rafay Rashid, bassist and violinist Florence Wallis, guitarist Nick Politelli and bassist Bryan Fielding blend together elements of post-punk, disco, surf and alt-rock together to create an inventive sound.

This is best exemplified with their new album “Deeper”, which came out via the Brooklyn based record label Almost Ready Records on April 25.

The band has a unique background due to being somewhat like a supergroup with Rashid, Politelli and Fielding being part of the garage pop act Ravi Shavi, Wallis being part of the indie folk group The Low Anthem and Fogarty having a presence in the local poetry community. They also have ties to the area due to Rashid growing up in Warwick.

“‘Deeper’ was written over the course of several years and recorded in two clusters, one section in 2017 and the other in 2024,” the band collectively says about the full-length. “The album aims to be uncomplicated but complex while having a lot of high-energy, flirty, angsty, danceable songs mixed with moments to reflect and feel something honest. The songs on aren’t shying away from the stickiness and complexity of human connection along with its successes and failures. Expect textured layers of influence, explosive energy, and danceable drive.”

The overall quality of the tracks within the new release is pristine, and this is a big credit to producer Bradford Krieger at Big Nice Studio in Lincoln. While capturing the structure, arrangements and instrumentation in excellent fashion, he also allowed the band to experiment and take some risks in order to push things forward. This is especially true in the songs “Animal” and “Alone” while others such as “Midnight TV Dinner”, “Depressed” and “Crisis” convey a more direct approach. While there’s a substantial sonic variety that comes across, the low leaning tones and Muggy’s operatic delivery keep the tracks related to each other. It’s a malleable adhesive for the sequencing while creating an enjoyable listening experience.

To give “Deeper” a listen, look it up on YouTube or Spotify and press play once you find it, or you can log onto Lookers’ Bandcamp page at lookers.bandcamp.com. You can also possibly make a purchase on that platform to download it into your digital music library. Lookers recently finished up a short run of shows around the Northeast, but if you’re aiming to catch their next performance, follow their Instagram page instagram.com/lookers to keep tabs. In the meantime, stop reading this article and give this new full-length a listen, it’s rock music with a wide range that finds a really cool balance.

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